August 07, 2014

My friend Courtney gave me this great idea to do a post on which area of town has the best restaurant. It may come as no surprise to some that I have my biases already (Midtown for life!) but being of an analytically-inclined mind, I had to do the calculations to be sure.

Then things got a little crazier.

Inspired by the Yelp 100 list, and the popularity contest that is the annual 'Best of Omaha' I thought it would be a good idea to also figure out what the top places to Eat in Omaha were!

This list was created with Yelp's listing of the restaurants in Omaha, sorted by 'Highest Rated'. I made a spreadsheet an took the top 200 listings, and calculated a score for each based on the average rating and number of reviews. This was a little tricky and is totally arbitrary, but I think came up with a reasonable result which didn't unfairly rank places with 5.0 ratings and 5 reviews higher than places with 4.5 rankings and 100 reviews.

I didn't include the Culvers and Which-Wich chain-type places that were included in the top 200. Or things that I don't think qualify as 'restaurants' - awesome though they maybe - like Howlin' Hounds, International Bakery or Jacobo's. I also tried to exclude places that have more than 5 locations (Bonefish Grill, Sullivan's Steakhouse) in an attempt to answer the "what qualifies as a chain" question.

Also, I deleted duplicates (sorry Abelardo's and the many iterations of Blue Sushi) and - this was a difficult decision - places with less than 10 reviews (sorry Mariscos los Willy's). To handle score ties I also sorted by average rating, then # of reviews. I also feel the need to point out that these are NOT my favorite restaurants, or even necessarily an endorsement, but it's certainly a better indicator than rating alone or popularity alone.

Here's what I came up with for our Top 150 (because 100 just wasn't enough!) Interestingly enough, I have only been to 127 of these restaurants. There are probably better ways to do the formula, so bear with me on this first 'Best of' iteration.

The 150 "Best" Restaurants in Omaha

Rank

Yelp

Restaurant

Avg.

#

Score

1

33

M’s Pub

4.0

222

622

2

3

Stella’s Bar &
Grill

4.5

167

617

3

108

Upstream Brewing
Company

3.5

266

616

4

9

The Drover

4.0

214

614

5

7

The Boiler Room

4.5

144

594

6

2

The Grey Plume

4.5

130

580

7

5

Block 16

4.5

125

575

8

37

Pitch Coal-fire
Pizzeria

4.0

173

573

9

11

Dario’s Brasserie

4.5

104

554

10

15

Amsterdam Falafel &
Kabob

4.0

149

549

11

6

Lot 2 Restaurant Wine
Bar

4.5

88

538

12

46

Plank Seafood
Provisions

4.0

135

535

13

8

Kitchen Table

4.5

77

527

14

21

Leo’s Diner

4.5

73

523

15

14

Lalibela Ethiopian
Restaurant

4.5

72

522

16

17

Mother India

4.0

121

521

17

95

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

3.5

170

520

18

12

801 Chophouse

4.0

117

517

19

30

Saigon Surface

4.0

114

514

20

4

Mahogany Prime
Steakhouse

4.5

59

509

21

18

Taqueria Tijuana

4.5

58

508

22

16

Crescent Moon Ale House

4.0

104

504

23

10

Laos Thai Market

4.5

52

502

24

19

La Buvette Wine &
Grocery

4.0

100

500

25

26

Mangia Italiana

4.5

48

498

26

49

Marks Bistro

4.0

98

498

27

31

Big Mama’s Kitchen

4.0

98

498

28

39

Avoli Osteria

4.5

43

493

29

122

Twisted Fork Grill and
Bar

3.5

141

491

30

38

Taita

4.5

40

490

31

75

Korean Grill

4.5

38

488

32

65

Lisa’s Radial Cafe

4.0

87

487

33

20

The Salty Dog Bar &
Grill

4.5

35

485

34

27

Hartland Bar-B-Que

4.0

85

485

35

62

Dixie Quicks

4.0

85

485

36

107

California Tacos &
More

3.5

131

481

37

22

Maru Sushi & Korean
Grill

4.0

80

480

38

69

McFoster’s Natural Kind
Cafe

3.5

129

479

39

43

Nicola’s

4.0

78

478

40

66

Espana Restaurant

4.0

78

478

41

60

Pizza King

4.5

27

477

42

28

Twisted Cork Bistro

4.0

77

477

43

23

Thai Kitchen

4.5

26

476

44

51

John’s Grecian Delight

4.5

26

476

45

24

Blatt Beer &
Table

4.0

76

476

46

64

Hiro 88

4.0

75

475

47

45

Jackson Street Tavern

4.0

73

473

48

34

Golden Palace

4.5

21

471

49

59

Shuck’s Fish House
& Oyster Bar

4.0

71

471

50

68

El Basha

4.0

71

471

51

89

Time Out Foods

4.5

20

470

52

71

Bangkok Cuisine

4.0

68

468

53

52

Localmotive Food Truck

4.5

17

467

54

41

Jams

4.0

67

467

56

86

Star Deli

4.5

14

464

57

83

Zio’s Pizzeria

4.0

64

464

58

168

Sam’s-Leon Mexican
Supplies

4.5

13

463

59

187

Harold’s Koffee House

4.5

13

463

60

85

Dinker’s Bar

4.0

62

462

61

189

Morning, Noon, &
Night

4.5

11

461

62

74

Salween Thai

4.0

61

461

63

47

Wilson & Washburn

4.0

58

458

64

78

New Gold Mountain

4.0

58

458

65

84

Bailey’s

4.0

58

458

66

35

Flavors

4.0

57

457

67

57

Louie M’s Burger Lust

4.0

56

456

68

88

Flatiron Cafe

4.0

56

456

69

105

Marrakech Gourmet

4.0

55

455

70

73

Abelardos Mexican Food

4.0

53

453

71

123

11-Worth Cafe

4.0

53

453

72

100

Sakura Bana

4.0

52

452

73

167

Vivace

3.5

101

451

74

145

Bohemian Cafe

4.0

50

450

75

104

Dundee Dell

3.5

100

450

76

56

Swine Dining

4.0

49

449

77

29

French Bulldog

4.0

49

449

78

102

Azteca

4.0

48

448

79

157

7M Grill

4.0

48

448

80

114

Spezia

4.0

46

446

81

36

Boxer Barbeque Co

4.0

46

446

82

127

Lazlo’s Brewery and
Grill

4.0

45

445

83

90

Dudley’s Pizza &
Tavern

4.0

45

445

84

32

Ragazzi’s Pizza

4.0

44

444

85

98

Oscar’s Pizza &
Sports Grill

4.0

43

443

86

110

Eat the Worm

4.0

43

443

87

148

Roja Mexican Grill +
Margarita Bar

3.5

93

443

88

164

Tokyo Sushi

4.0

42

442

89

87

Sushi Japan

4.0

42

442

90

42

Mai Thai

4.0

42

442

91

82

Wave Bistro

4.0

40

440

92

141

Netties Fine Mexican
Food

4.0

39

439

93

131

Brazen Head Irish Pub

4.0

39

439

94

97

Taxi’s Grille & Bar

4.0

38

438

95

109

Nosh Wine Lounge

4.0

37

437

96

161

Railcar Modern American
Kitchen

4.0

36

436

97

58

Dolce

4.0

36

436

98

76

Worker’s Takeout

4.0

35

435

99

150

V Mertz

4.0

35

435

101

99

Canton House

4.0

35

435

102

134

Thai Spice

4.0

34

434

103

112

Over Easy

4.0

34

434

104

101

Mantra Bar & Grill

4.0

34

434

105

48

Katie’s Restaurant
& Taverna

4.0

34

434

106

195

Malara’s

4.0

33

433

107

106

Tanduri Fusion

4.0

32

432

108

192

Pla Too Thai

4.0

32

432

109

55

Orsi’s Italian Bakery

4.0

32

432

110

166

Kobe Steakhouse of
Japan

4.0

31

431

111

61

Ethiopian Restaurant

4.0

31

431

112

116

Le Voltaire

4.0

30

430

113

152

Bulldog Burgers

4.0

30

430

114

165

Le Bouillon

4.0

29

429

115

151

Legacy Gyros

4.0

28

428

116

113

JC Mandarin

4.0

28

428

117

124

Pudgy’s Pizzeria

4.0

26

426

118

179

Okinawa Sushi

4.0

26

426

119

156

Jim & Jennie’s
Greek Village

4.0

25

425

120

178

China Buffet

4.0

24

424

121

139

Beyond BBQ

4.0

24

424

122

153

Rivera’s

3.5

74

424

123

197

Thai Orchids

4.0

23

423

124

162

Shirley’s Diner

4.0

22

422

125

184

Vietnamese Restaurant

4.0

21

421

126

128

Gerda’s Bakery

4.0

21

421

127

103

Caribbean Delights

4.0

21

421

128

190

Vidlak’s Brookside Cafe

4.0

18

418

129

129

Taqueria La Esmeralda

4.0

18

418

130

147

El Rancho

4.0

18

418

131

193

El Alamo

4.0

18

418

132

135

Dante Pizzeria
Napoletana

3.5

67

417

133

137

Los Portales

4.0

16

416

134

130

House of Hunan

4.0

16

416

135

163

Ethnic Sandwich Shop

4.0

15

415

136

144

The Jaipur

3.5

64

414

137

169

La Casa Pizzaria

3.5

63

413

138

136

Jimi D’s

3.5

61

411

139

132

J Coco

3.5

57

407

140

125

Ponzu Sushi & Grill

3.5

56

406

141

94

Sinful Burger Sports
Grill

3.5

55

405

142

154

Rice Bowl

3.5

54

404

143

172

Vietnamese Asian
Restaurant

3.5

51

401

144

121

Benson Brewery

3.5

48

398

145

138

Sgt Peffers Cafe
Italian

3.5

47

397

146

115

Guaca Maya

3.5

47

397

147

158

Wheatfields Eatery and
Bakery

3.0

97

397

148

171

Three Happiness Express

3.5

46

396

149

117

Salt

3.5

46

396

150

159

Mama’s Pizza

3.5

46

396

Neighborhoods

And what about that neighborhood thing? From the list above, I next needed to list which neighborhood each were in. (Luckily I could do this mostly from memory, which saved some time).

To do this, I had to decide which neighborhoods to use, and to keep it simple I originally used the Visit Omaha website and was going to use:

Downtown Omaha

20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east, and Leavenworth Street on the south to Cuming Street on the north.

North Omaha

Cuming Street on the south, Read Street on the north, 72nd Street to the west, and East Omaha and Carter Lake, Iowa to the east

East Omaha

South Omaha

Dodge Street on the north, Harrison Street on the south, the Missouri River on the east, and 72nd Street on the west

Midtown Omaha

Cuming Street on the north, Center Street on the south, 24th Street on the east, and Saddle Creek Road on the west.

West Omaha

Traditionally all areas of Omaha west of 72nd Street, but by the early 21st century 72nd Street to I-680 is often considered Central Omaha

But that seemed too simplistic, plus the definitions were a little arbitrary and up for debate. So, I decided it'd be much more fun to just make a big Google Map of these restaurants and let people decide for themselves. It's kind of a toss-up depending on where you draw the boundaries. Enjoy!